


Take Your Time To Heal

by LadyAriadna



Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: F/M, Gen, Not Avengers: Endgame (Movie) Compliant, Not Beta Read, avengers endgame au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-09
Updated: 2019-04-09
Packaged: 2020-01-07 14:14:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,839
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18412301
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LadyAriadna/pseuds/LadyAriadna
Summary: Tony's done. He doesn't see the point anymore. Now, he just wanted to leave and, maybe in time, move on.





	Take Your Time To Heal

**Author's Note:**

> Just something short that I had to write before I sleep or else it will haunt me.

Steve wasn’t sure if he heard him right. They already have the remains of the gauntlet, the stones intact, with Carol Danvers’ help. It only needed to be studied and for that, they needed the greatest minds available, but…

“Like I said Cap,” Tony looked at him with a forlorn gaze, “I’m done.”

“Tony,” he sighed, “I’m sure-”

“What’s the point?” Tony’s slumped shoulders were not only the result of a slowly healing body, but also of a broken will. Steve’s heart broke as he took in Tony’s visage. Iron Man, the armored hero and symbol of resilience and ingenuity, now lay broken. “No one’s even strong enough to use that thing.”

“I am and I will.”

“Really now?” Tony scoffed then turned to walk away. “Good luck with that.”

“Tony-” Steve was stopped in his tracks as Pepper blocked his way. Steve faced different adversaries in his lifetime but none was as unyielding as Pepper Potts.

“Pepper, he can’t just-”

“I understand Steve. I do but please,” Pepper’s pleading eyes was wrought with tears, “I just had him back. Please give him time.”

“Time is a luxury we don’t have.”

“Cap,” James Rhodes let his presence known. He walked up beside Pepper and faced Steve, “I get it. You feel like doing nothing is time wasted so you wanna go out there and do somethin’ like we were trained to do as soldiers but… Tony’s not a soldier and Peter… He’s, he’s more than just a mentee to Tony.”

He vaguely remembered the same sentiment spoken by Tony once at the Helicarrier years ago. Steve looked around the room. Thor, Rocket and Carol were out in space to gather more intel and forces. Nat looked for Clint in Japan. Nebula stared at him, stance ready to step in and protect Tony if needed while Bruce watched with uncertainty.

“Please just, give him time to mourn and when he’s ready, he’ll be here.” Pepper spoke with admirable confidence. Steve sighed and looked at Bruce.

“I have all the notes I need, Cap. It’s okay,” Bruce assured him. Steve then looked back at Rhodey and Pepper then nodded.

\---

Tony walked in his workshop, well, former workshop. He could still feel the toll in his body despite the days spent in the compound’s medbay to recuperate from space with no food and water. He decided to take Pepper and stay at the Manhattan Mansion. It’s been years since he lived there. He even thought to sell it but, despite the bad memories he had in that place, mostly due to his father, he couldn’t just get rid of the house where he grew up. Tony wondered when exactly he accepted that he’s sentimental.

Speaking of sentimentality, he only returned to the compound’s workshop to retrieve one thing. He didn’t want to dawdle; just go in, take it and leave. The more he stayed, the more he would be drowned by his memories with Peter in this place. Peter’s jacket was still on his chair. Cases of web fluid were still on his table and one of his many backpacks was on the floor.

He walked towards the small kitchenette and towards a small side table where a hand-made picture frame stood out from the rest. He took the picture off the table. It was of both Tony and Peter the day the kid got his Stark Internship certificate. He remembered the bright-eyed boy that remained happy and optimistic despite his painful past. Peter looked up to him and once even declared he wanted to be like Tony but, in the long run, Tony often looked at Peter and hoped he could have at least a portion of the kid’s light; the light that shone despite the oppressive darkness around him.

But now… Tony shook his head. He didn’t want to have a breakdown in the compound.

“Honey?” Pepper tentatively called out from the shop’s entrance. “Are you ready?”

“Yeah.” He sighed and walked towards his fiance, picture held in his hand. “Let’s go.”

\---

It had been months since he got back from space and Tony sat in one of the mansion’s living rooms that housed the family’s collection of pictures. There was one recent addition to the collection. The black hand-made picture frame of Tony and Peter joined his pictures with Pepper, Rhodey, his mother and Edwin Jarvis.

Tony often spent his days that way; he sat at the couch and listlessly faced the pictures. Unlike him, Pepper and May were strong women. Pepper continued her work both as CEO of Stark Industries and as head of Stark Relief Foundation while May, despite her grief, volunteered most of her time and energy to help the homeless and others devastated by the decimation. Happy helped, mostly May, in any way he can while Rhodey spent most of his time doing whatever it was he did at the compound. 

Sometimes, Rhodey would visit and tell him what had been going on in the compound, mostly research on those damn stones. Tony didn’t have the energy to care. He appreciated the visits but, mostly, he just wanted to wallow in silence and misery. Once he wanted to drown himself in alcohol as he did years before but, by Pepper’s decision, there were no alcoholic drinks in the mansion so, wallowing in the living room it is.

He didn’t know what time it was when the doorbell rang in the mansion. He thought it could be Rhodey again and let it ring without answer. Maybe he would just go away on his own but, the one on the door was adamant. Whoever they were, they kept incessantly ringing the doorbell to the point that it got annoying.

“FRIDAY, who the hell is that?” He asked as he massaged his temples.

“He didn’t say boss.” FRIDAY answered. “He said you would know if you open the door.”

“What the- well, tell him to go away!”

“He said he won’t leave even if he had to sleep by the front door.”

“Front door?! Is he climbing the gates?” Tony sighed and thought he would have to upgrade the security systems. “Argh! Fine!” Tony stood and walked towards the front door, the doorbell stopped ringing but was replaced by loud knocks on the front door in an annoying rhythm.

“WHAT?” Tony harshly asked as he opened the door. He hoped his anger would scare this visitor away but…

“Damn, you look horrible!” A young man said. He looked like a backpacker. “When was the last time you shaved? When was the last time you took a bath or even combed your hair?”

“What-Who the hell are you?” He didn’t appreciate the blunt observation on his appearance.

“Seriously?” The man’s eyebrow lifted in disbelief. Then he sighed, “Rose Hill ring any bell?”

“Potato gun?” Tony asked after a few seconds of thinking.

“It’s Harley.” Harley answered in a deadpan voice.

“What are you doing here?” Tony softened his stance as he took in the boy’s appearance.

“I told you, didn’t I? We’re connected.”

“Are you alone? Did you travel alone?”

Instead of answering, Harley frowned and looked down at his feet. Tony didn’t need to ask twice.

“I’m so sorry kid.”

“Yeah, well. It happened.” Harley gave him a weak, nonchalant smile.

“Come in.” Tony led Harley in the mansion and towards the room he where he spent most of his days. Harley, not familiar with places of opulence, walked in and looked around in awe. “FRIDAY, order the usual pizza.”

“Sure, boss.” FRIDAY answered.

“What happened to JARVIS?” Harvey exclaimed as he removed his backpack and deposited it by the shelf with the pictures.

“It’s umm… It’s a long story.” Tony sat at his usual seat on the couch. “Harley-”

“Dude, I didn’t know you have a son.”

“What?” Tony looked up and saw Harley point at his photo with Peter. “Uhh no, he’s… he’s my mentee. His name’s Peter... He’s gone.” He’s more than a mentee and he hated the fact that he wasn’t able to tell Peter how much he meant to Tony.

“Oh, I’m sorry Tony.”

“It’s okay.” He sighed. “Harley, why did you come here?”

“Actually, I hoped I could, you know, help out.”

“Help out with what?”

“Bringing them back.” Harley answered with determination in his stance. That was not what Tony expected.

“Kid,” Tony sighed, “look-”

“Whatever it is, if you need help with building suits, I can do that. You know I can do that.”

“I know.”

“See?” Harley walked closer to Tony. “Just let me help.”

“Harley, there’s nothing we can do.”

“That’s bull-”

“Hey!”

“-crap. I was gonna say crap.”

“Yeah, right.” Tony scoffed. Harley sat beside Tony on the couch and continued.

“You’re the mechanic, remember? You can build yourself a way to bring them back; my mom, my sister and Peter.” As he looked back at Harley’s determined stare, Tony felt a spark of, of something; like being trapped in a dark cave and someone from the outside shifted some rocks until a ray of light shown through the barrier.

_Is this the last act of defiance of the great Tony Stark? Or are you going to do something about it?_

Yinsen…

_When you can do the things that I can, but you don't, and then the bad things happen, they happen because of you._

Peter…

There’s a spark of hope and what came after that was determination. He can’t let Peter down. He’ll bring them back. Whatever it takes.

“I have to make a few calls.” With Tony’s words, Harley smiled.

\---

Pepper was exhausted. After her work with SI, she coordinated with May to plan out what else they can do to the remaining devastated people. Not only was the work hard on her physically, she was also weighed down emotionally. As she saw all the newly orphaned children and parents that lost their children, it hurt. But, she won’t stop. May’s coping mechanism was to work herself to exhaustion and, for Peter’s sake, Pepper won’t let May work herself to the grave. That’s the least she can do.

As she walked further in the house, she noticed an unfamiliar backpack on the floor.

“FRIDAY, do we have a visitor?” She asked with a frown.

“Yes, a young man named Harley Keener, Ms. Potts. He’s with boss in the basement’s lab.”

 _Harley? The kid from years ago?_ Pepper quickly went to the lab and the scene she saw made her smile.

Tony was on a video call with Bruce. Holo-screens were active with diagrams. The young man, Harley, busied himself with collating their notes and taking part in the discussion while eating pizza. For the past months, gone were the spark and the life that often graced Tony’s brown doe eyes. Pepper hated the hopelessness she saw in them. That day, Tony was no longer lost. He had a new goal and with it, they have a better chance to make things right again.

With renewed energy, she opted to cook dinner for the two geniuses.

**Author's Note:**

> In Earth-616 (main comics universe), Tony does have a mansion in Manhattan that they turned into the [Avengers Mansion](https://marvel.fandom.com/wiki/Avengers_Mansion).


End file.
